Maxwell School News

“I think the fundamental problem remains, that Vladimir Putin wants to subjugate and control Ukraine and Ukraine wants to stay independent and sovereign and make its own political choices. So it's really hard to see a meaningful deal coming out of this,” says Brian Taylor, director of the Moynihan Insititute of Global Affairs. 

Rural communities have “leaned increasingly conservative” for several decades, and support for Trump is “especially strong” among these communities, which could mean they feel the country's leadership reflects their priorities, particularly on cultural and social issues, says Shannon Monnat, Lerner Chair in Public Health Promotion and Population Health.

“As government—especially federal—support recedes, competition for philanthropic dollars and other revenue sources is likely to intensify significantly,” says Jiahuan Lu, associate professor of public administration and international affairs.

“We are already seeing the negative reactions from the market... Further depreciation of the yen will hit ordinary Japanese households with higher prices,” says Margarita Estevez-Abe, associate professor of political science.

Mongolia’s leaders plan to move the nation’s capital from increasingly congested Ulaanbaatar to the culturally-significant yet undeveloped area called Kharkhorum. But Natalie Koch, professor of geography and the environment, says, “Buildings on a blank slate, it's a lovely image, but it doesn't solve any of those bigger structural issues in a state."

Ahead of the meeting between incoming New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani and Donald Trump, Grant Reeher, professor of political science, tells Agence France Presse: “Look for the outcome of that meeting to be something to the effect of, ‘I think I can work with (him)—but we will see how it goes and I’m hopeful—we both want the city to succeed’.”  

Import prices directly affect consumers, said Ryan Monarch, associate professor of economics. “Ten percent of all their expenditures are on imported products. And so sometimes import prices will be something that is moving overall inflation numbers around,” he told Marketplace.

Yingyi Ma, professor of sociology, said several factors could be behind the trend showing a drop in the number of Chinese students studying in the U.S., beyond the anxiety over changes in U.S. policies, including the rise of “intra-Asia migration” with more students studying in Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore.

“Whether or not people will keep buying as much stuff is very hard to predict,” says Devashish Mitra, professor of economics. “Chinese goods might still be relatively cheaper than the alternatives.”

“There are just so many things that have happened in the last six months in this presidential administration that to think that we know what the issues will be in 2028 and who the players will be—I think it's just asking too much,” says Shana Gadarian, Merle Goldberg Fabian Professor of Excellence in Citizenship and Critical Thinking.

Any funding not covered by what tariffs have raised would likely have to come through Congressional authorization, says Ryan Monarch, associate professor of economics. “It’s not something the president can just wave a magic wand and disperse the money as they see fit,” he says.

“Part of this challenge is there are people who feel empowered and emboldened to just make bald-faced lies and then there's people like this young man who was the security guard at a farm where there were undocumented workers on the farm, and he's like here's my passport. Let me just get it for you, I'm a U.S. citizen. And they didn't care,” says Nayyera Haq, assistant dean of Washington programs.

“There is no silly sensationalism in this book, merely sound storytelling and measured judgments. The author writes of ‘that particular German approach to war-making in the first half of the 20th century—tactical ingenuity in the service of strategic vacuity,’ writes Max Hastings, book critic for The Sunday Times.

“The presence of U.S. troops in Mexico will severely and irreparably undermine [President of Mexico] Sheinbaum’s counter-narcotics policies, which are netting results. Crippling the Sheinbaum administration will give rise to an even bigger and stronger enemy south of the border,” writes Gladys McCormick, Jay and Debe Moskowitz Endowed Chair in Mexico-U.S. Relations.

In order to persuade Trump's loyal MAGA camp to critically question the economy, the country would have to fall into a deep, prolonged recession, according to Christopher Faricy, associate professor of political science. In addition, there is a need for “more uniform reporting” in the media, which attributes the economic crisis to Trump's policies, he says.

“Mamdani’s got to get his ideas realized in policy, and New York is notoriously difficult to govern. It’s arguably the second hardest political job in the United States, after the president. So whatever he’s able to accomplish, it won’t be easy,” says Grant Reeher, professor of political science.

“The stress that families are facing throughout the country is tremendous, not knowing how they’re going to feed their families,” says Colleen Heflin, professor of public administration and international affairs.

“There's no question there would be some value to having to have some testing of our weapons, especially some of the new developments we've had recently. But it's how you do that and how extensive the testing is something that's open to question,” says Vice Adm. Robert Murrett (Ret.), professor of practice of public administration and international affairs.

“There is no way to disentangle red and blue America without tremendous violence. Additionally, a large and increasingly ignored percentage of Americans hold moderate views,” says Ryan Griffiths, professor of political science. “There is no doubt that polarization in America is a problem that is getting worse, but a national divorce is simply not the solution.”

“As a person who has lived on three continents and traveled extensively through three more, and as someone who has thought deeply about the implications of gospel values for both church and world, Leo is well aware that all that he says and does will be examined and parsed for their repercussions,” says Margaret Susan Thompson, professor of history and political science.